


Ravnicas New Era

by EVTaurus



Category: Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other, Post-Canon, Ravnica (Magic: The Gathering)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25523332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EVTaurus/pseuds/EVTaurus
Summary: Three years after The Eternal Invasion, Niv-Mizzet, The Living Guildpact, asks for a report of the cities well-being from one of his many assistants. After gaining some hope for the city, he'll soon find it threatened, as Ral Zarek comes bearing bad news from The Gatewatch. Something deadly is heading towards Ravnica, and it'll take all of them to even stand a chance of stopping it.
Kudos: 2





	Ravnicas New Era

**Author's Note:**

> As a note, this is a prequel to a Ravnican D&D Game i'll be running, which takes place 20 years after War of The Spark. Since some more dramatic stuff happened to shake up the world, I got a desire to write it out after thinking about it cinematically. This'll also help me flesh it out for the players too!  
> That being said, some things are more D&D Compliant versus MTG compliant, such as the existence of Dragonborns and Tieflings, for example.  
> Either way, I hope you enjoy!

It's a chilly winter day in Ravnica, as the snow is gently falling to the ground. It's just an early morning, the distant Orzhovan bells chiming for 8 am as a crimson-skinned and yellow eyed tiefling, a fiend-like humanoid, makes a fast walk down the streets.

"Of all times to call me in before the sun's even up, why does it have to be the coldest one yet? I swear if it weren’t the Firemind himself I’d tell him to...to...oh, I don't know, go make a snow angel or something!" They whisper-ranted between shivers. One would think having fiendish fire in the blood would make them quite resistant to the cold, but it turns out that just makes the internal and external temperature difference even starker.

But nonetheless, this Tiefling, Maks Morozov, was dutifully making their way through the 10th District streets on their way to The Office of The Guildpact, the rebuilt home of The Living Guildpact, the heavy report they carried safely tucked between their layers of coats.

Maks was formerly an Azorius Scribe, but left the guild after the rise of Dovin Baan, a rare individual who could travel to different worlds who was placed there by a madman who invaded Ravnica, and the less-than-just practices he had put into place.

As Maks gazes upon the spires of New Prahv, they can't help but wince in remembrance of that dreadful day, when the mad dragon landed on Ravnica and sent his horde of lethal skeletal minions onto the populace. All things considered, Maks still doesn't know how they survived that day, but was thankful it was just one day. 

Afterwards, as Ravnica was still rebuilding, they were hired on as one of the assistants to The Living Guildpact, the symbol of law and order in Ravnica, whose very presence forbade the guilds from declaring outright war with one another, and currently was the former Guildmaster of The Izzet League, the mighty and ancient dragon, Niv-Mizzet.

Maks was not fond of this change at first, Niv-Mizzet and the guild he was associated with was always more about volatile experimentation rather than procedural law and order, but it seemed the dragon took to his new position with a mighty fervor, and has worked to make Ravnica as equal as could be.

"After all, our world is merely a large equation with billions of factors, and the only proper way to solve an equation is to make all of the sides equal to one another." Had been his reasoning.

Shaking off the thoughts of the past, they press onward, moving past the remnants of the past that still remained. All over Ravnica, the massive city-plane, and the 10th district specifically, the signs of rubble and destruction could be seen. Even in the territory of the Gruul Anarchs, who reveled in destruction and the remnants of broken society, you could tell which rubble they made, and which was thrown upon them.

But, it had been three years, almost to the day, and many places had been rebuilt and reformed, and with the Living Guildpact hard at work, the guilds working together rather than against each other, and a sense of group victory against an extra-planar threat, Ravnica was almost at peace. At least, as much peace as it could.

Finally, after what felt like hours of walking, Maks made it to The Office of The Guildpact, and the central heating of the place washed over them like a blanket. 

"Morning, Maks. It's quite nippy out there, ay?" Asked Sasha, a young goblin who was another assistant at the office.

"Oh, no, the pudding Misha makes is nippy, it's damn freezing out there!" Maks whined as they peeled off coats. 

"Right, I keep forgetting how sensitive you are!" Sasha replied with a snicker.

"Yes, yes, laugh it out. Is he available yet? I was told to come first thing in the morning." Maks relented.

"Yep, he's busy at work, but when isn't he?" Sasha said, sorting through some mail at her front desk.

"Wonderful. Thank you, Sasha." Maks said with a polite bow, hanging up his main coat, scarf, and hat at the rack.

Walking through the marbled halls, tall and strong to match the new Living Guildpact, Maks approached the largest part, a massive domed structure, almost a full sphere if it didn’t connect with the ground below it, with a glass roof to gaze outward with.

Inside, the ancient dragon himself, with shimmering red and gold scales, with mana swirling around his body, flitted his attention between hundreds of documents and formulas at once, taking in a lifetime of knowledge in the time it takes to flip a page.

“Firemind, you wished to see me?” Maks said with a bow, clearing their throat.

“Ah, Morozov, right on time. If I recall, you’ve been tasked with canvasing the other guilds annually, yes?” The dragon asked, his voice booming through what was essentially an amphitheater.

“Yes, Firemind, that is the task you’ve set out for me since I was hired.” Maks replied.

“Throughout my new tenure as Living Guildpact, I have worked closely with the Guildmasters of the Ten Guilds to try and improve the state of this plane. However, admittedly I do not have the ability to traverse on the citizen level easily, and my presence tends to add a variable of intimidation that muddles results. Therefore,” He began, before the floating papers and formulas stacked behind him.

“I wish to hear how Ravnica is faring.” He gave his full attention to Maks, something they were not familiar with. “Begin when you are ready.”

It took Maks a few seconds to center himself. They had been told to prepare his yearly reports for this morning, but they could never have imagined they’d have the undivided attention of Niv-Mizzet.

Well, partially undivided, he certainly had many theories and ideas cooking up in his subconscious, but it was still more than Maks had ever thought they would receive.

“O-Of course, Firemind. I suppose alphabetical order would be the most efficient. So, let’s start at the beginning.” They said, organizing their papers quickly, and pushing up their thin glasses.

“The Azorius Senate has been functioning as normal lately. After Dovin Baan was deposed, former Arrester Lavinia has been successfully wrangling in the detractors, and those who would see Azorius become dictatorial over the whole of Ravnica. She seems to be warming up to the idea of becoming official Guildmaster but has not taken the title yet. Spy-Thopter presence is down by 60% from before the Eternal Invasion, and the remaining 40% is relegated to stationary surveillance in high-traffic areas, such as The Trans-Guild Promenade, and Tin Street, or through specific surveillance missions, which their usage is petitioned and monitored. Furthermore, they’ve been enacting the laws you have instated with their collaboration with utmost professionalness and have retroactively released falsely imprisoned individuals under the ‘Precognitive Innocence’ Mandate, forbidding imprisonment off of merely precognitive information until a full investigation has been completed.” Maks began, as statistics and testimonies flitter off of their papers and into the air.

“What is the amount of falsely accused?” Niv-Mizzet questioned. “As you will see in image 3c, after this year’s annual investigation the number has come to 47%, rounded up.” Maks answered.

“Speaking of false arrests, The Boros Legion has also been carrying on mostly as normal as they were previous to your ascent, but their tactics are much more direct and less brash these days. Under the laws of procedure and process, many of their more volatile members have been frequently attending the courses presented by Azorius and occasionally Selesnya about descalation and removing prejudice from the workplace to seemingly positive results. However, those who disagree with these intents, and those with deeply ingrained prejudices have been leaving, and worries of militant extremists have been on the rise, especially around Tin Street and within Golgari and Dimir member circles. Approximately 10% of their former forces have done so, and out of that group, 70% were assigned to the education courses at least three times before their resignation.  
However, on the bright side, public opinion of the remaining 90% of Boros Soldiers has gone up, and in general they’re seen as more benevolent figures!” Maks reported.

“Yes, but 10% of such a large faction is still concerning. I shall bring it up with Lavinia and Aurelia the next time I see them. Please, continue.” Niv-Mizzet commented.

“As for House Dimir…I had some difficulty getting their information, honestly. Oh, but I do have this report on them! Odd, I don’t remember getting these figures, but they are sourced and cited, perhaps I was tired that day?” Maks worried, as Niv-Mizzet rolled their eyes at Lazav’s continued nonsense.

“House Dimir has continued their latest bout of openness with their intelligence-based businesses, and there have been rumors of them actually assisting the public behind the scenes, so the general public has begun to look favorably on them. Secondarily, they’ve been adding to the efforts to rebuild Ravnica by making available former building plans that some assumed lost. The Guildmaster, Lazav, has still yet to make a public appearance, but has assured me through assistants that they plan to keep up their work to aid Ravnica all the same.” Maks said.

“ _I must assign someone to investigate those houses, the last thing we need is secret passageways being installed throughout the city. Well, **more**_ _secret passageways at least._ ” Niv-Mizzet thought.

“Moving on to the next part of the report, The Golgari Swarm. The first two years, I must admit I had difficulty canvasing information from them,” Maks began, recalling being chased by Kraul soldiers and many, many bugs.

“However, with the reduced prejudice against Golgari members, they’re slowly becoming more receptive to working with the above ground, and socially they’ve inspired a new trend of reuse, and ‘D-I-Y’ as they’ve called it. There has currently been some turmoil as many are doubting the rulings of Queen Vraska, but in the sparse interviews I’ve been able to have with her she doesn’t seem to be phased by the competition.” Maks continued, rejoicing that their position spared them the glare of the gorgon.

“I assume you’d have troubles canvasing the Gruul territories as well?” Niv-Mizzet asked.

A cavalcade of screaming, running, being surrounded by large, musclebound warriors, which was not usually a problem, and more screaming came to the memories of Maks. “I would say I handled it rather well.”

“It was hard to quantify any data for the Gruul Anarchs, but after the passing of Domri Rade during the invasion, it seems the tribes have rallied behind the druid Nikiya, who has also seemed to be the guardian of Ilharg, the Raze Boar, after he was loosed during the Invasion. I wasn’t able to discern if the less spiritual clans believe in her power, or just don’t want her to direct the Raze Boar their way, but she’s become an undisputed leader, nonetheless. Gruul members have also taken quite well to demolishing projects before reconstruction efforts as well!” They continued.

“We should be thankful Ilharg is as fond of naps as he is fond of destruction, or else Bolas wouldn’t have been our only issue.” Niv-Mizzet chimed in.

Maks couldn’t help but nervously chuckle, thinking of the day that might change. “Moving on to the Izzet League,” they began, before Niv-Mizzet raised a talon. “I shall be meeting with Ral later today, I shall ask him directly, feel free to skip over that one.”

“Very well, then the next one would be The Orzhov Syndicate and…I’ll be frank, Firemind, it’s an entire mess. The guild is in the midst of a civil turmoil between who the leaders should be. There’s the Traditional group, seeking to place Teysa Karlov as the head, to keep the Karlov family present, then there’s the Renovation group, wishing to place the Planeswalker Kaya and by association Tomik Vrona at the head, and lastly there’s the Moderate group, who wishes to see the newly formed Triumvirate in control of the guild. Not to mention the influx of debts from rebuilding efforts, a loss of information during the Eternals Invasion _erasing_ debts, and more ghosts than they can manage, it’s all a hurricane in there.” Maks described.

“Perhaps an intervention is necessary, but is it an act of bias for The Living Guildpact to intervene with one guild specifically?” He pondered.

“In my humble opinion, Firemind, sorting out the issues of Orzhov would benefit Ravnica as a whole.” Maks replied, centering themselves.

“Moving past that to the second biggest headache on this list, The Cult of Rakdos. There’s a lot of variables and a lot I wasn’t able to find due to running from attempts to make me a centerpiece in a show, so I’ll say that they’re keeping spirits up, their manual labor is a massive asset to the rebuilding efforts, and they’re keeping non-consensual murders to a…record low, which is still rather high.” Maks quickly listed.

“Selesnya on the other hand has been quite the opposite. Vitu-Ghazi has reawakened, although its reach over the Leylines is still recovering. Alongside that, their recruitment numbers have been declining, and there’s much less singing going on outside of their own guild areas. Other than that, nothing out of sorts appears to be commencing.” Maks explained with a shrug.

“Is it now? I will have to factor that into my predictions for the upcoming weather patterns. I have been formulating an Almanac of sorts for the populous to use and predict such things for coming years, you know.” Niv-Mizzet explained.

“Lastly, with the Simic Combine, their use of The Guardian Project and the enhanced soldiers born from it have been placed to guard and assist with the projects, along with the guild itself. Along with that, it seems that the medical researchers have been 42% more productive with their efforts to heal and rehabilitate the veterans of the invasion, especially those with missing limbs. They’re making efforts towards pure regeneration of missing limbs without cellular rejection, and as of the last canvasing, they’re 15% of the way to developing a sure proof theory!” Maks divulged.

“Always slow going with them, Izzet has long since found mechanical prosthetics proven and utterly perf-” Niv-Mizzet began before coughing awkwardly. “I suppose I should neutrally judge the benefits of biological regeneration versus mere augmentation, but I still hold personal preference.” The Firemind said with a huff.

“Well, as always there’s troubles and crises abound, but it seems that our plane is safe, for the time being. How is the guildless population, who has to endure such trials without being directly involved?” He continued.

“Well…many did not have the security of the guilds during the invasion, so approximately 53% of our previous guildless population in District 10 sadly perished. But of those remaining, 5% have gone to join guilds. But there’s something else…” Maks began, earning a raised brow ridge from the dragon.

“Firemind, have you heard of the rumors about ‘Bond Guilds’ by any chance?”

“Bond Guilds? I haven’t heard anything of the sort. What are they?” He replied.

“Well, nothing at the current point in time, but during my canvassing and just day to day travels, I keep hearing talk of guilds working together in a more official way. Ever since the Invasion when people banded together no matter the guild affiliation, and combined their powers, it seems to be a popular idea.” They explained.

“I bring this up because, well, do you believe it could be possible? For guilds to converge officially on where they have traits in common? I’ve heard guildless individuals, who don’t like guilds on their own merits, become interested in the idea of them converging, it could be a way to get more, if not all of Ravnica, into the guilds, and their benefits.” Maks pleaded.

“That…Hmm…Under the Guildpact as it is, that would undermine the balance that has been hard-fought for and barely maintained. But perhaps I could speak with the Guildmasters about recognizing such a thing without the magical benefits. They wouldn’t be protected, but they’d be recognized by the individuals.” Niv-Mizzet thought aloud.

“I must admit, it would be risky. It’d be adding a new societal factor to a repairing society, but doesn’t that also make it the perfect time to try it?” Maks continued.

“You bring up a good point, Maks Morozov. I have a proposition.” He said with a grin. “I shall discuss it with the Guildmasters in one month to begin preparations. To do so, I will entrust you with the task of gathering the required data and formulating potential plans to begin. As long as you have this task, you’ll be given the title of Bond Leader Morozov.” Niv-Mizzet declared, as the multi-colored mana of The Living Guildpact danced around him, proving that he meant his words in the most legal sense.

“O-Oh! T-Thank you, Firemind! I will make sure to complete my task with the utmost skill!” Maks said, with a flurry of deep bows. “But of course, someone I hired would do no less! Be careful not to throw out your back now.” Niv-Mizzet said with a chuckle.

“Now, that concludes our meeting for now. Do be diligent in todays work as well.” He concluded, with the papers and equations dancing around him once more.

 _“It’s almost 10 am now, that gives me a few hours before Ral gets here. I do wonder what’s so urgent he needs to speak with me so soon today?”_ He wondered, before getting lost in his multitude of work.

Meanwhile, in his immaculate loft, Ral Zarek was utterly panicked, on the verge of tears and sweat pouring from his forehead, as he was facing another figure in all blue, the mind mage Jace Beleren, equally looking distressed, but panicking far less.

“Jace, just what the hell are we supposed to do about this, you know what this means, right!?” Ral asked, voice trembling.

“At best, countless deaths. At worst…” He began.

“The end of all life on Ravnica.”


End file.
